Tag Archives: simplicity

“The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to own, a joy to use. True user experience goes far beyond giving customers what they say they want, or providing checklist features.” – Nielsen Norman Group

“To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit; it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse.” – Paul Rand

Edit: As noted in the comments, the originally submitted quote was slightly inaccurate, but added the focus on designers. I’ll keep that version available, but please note that the quote above is more accurate.

“Perfection is achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Quote submitted by Geoff Alday. Geoff found the quote in this presentation by Will Tschumy from Microsoft (Slide 105). Check out Geoff’s thoughts on the presentation here.

Two quotes for today to show two differing views of “simplicity” (interestingly, the quote in favor of simplicity is shorter and, well, more simple!). Should we aim for simplicity no matter what, or should we focus on clairity, even if it adds some complexity? Is simplicity always clear? Is it always creative?

“The most important goal of effective communication is clarity. Clarity is not the same as simplicity … Complexity can be made to appear clear by effective organization and presentation and need not be reduced to meaningless “bite-sized” chunks of data, as simplification usually does. Clarity refers to the focus on one particular message or goal at a time, rather than attempting to accomplish too much at once. Simplicity is often responsible for the “dumbing” of information rather than the illumination of it.” – Michael Hoffman